January 27

1302: Dante Alighiere expelled from Florence - the full tale is told on June 24.1606: The Gunpowder Plot trial. But this too has its full tale told - including the rather interesting parts about who Guy Fawkes really was, and why that date - elsewhere in this blog: try November 5, you never know.

1951: The first atomic bomb test took place in the Nevada desert; but why would I want to write about something as negative, as destructive, as barbaric as that? Unless, perhaps, as an excuse to write about Robert Oppenheimer, and how he was destroyed for no reason by the anti-Semites in the CIA and FBI. Unless, perhaps, to write about my trip to Los Alamos in 2015. Unless - and why not? - to congratulate the North Korean President on his 2018 victory over Donald Trump, and thereby make a connection with that other American surrender, the "ceasefire" that "ended" the Vietnam War today in 1973, "ceasefire" and "ended" both being American euphemisms, in the way that "Land of Opportunism" is rendered as "Land of Opportunity" and "The Great American Delusory Fantasy" becomes "The Great American Dream", and no one "dies", they merely "pass away", and kids never "fail" in school, they are simply "working towards grade level". So, let us be clear, as with the Korean War before it and the Afghani, Kuwaiti, Iraqi, Somali and Syrian wars after it, America lost, and finally surrendered. The terms of the Vietnam surrender were eventually agreed by Bill Clinton, and they included an arrangement by which Vietnam, which had no economy left, could start to rebuild one through textiles, supplying 65% of America's textile needs, and doing so under virtual-slavery conditions, in order to keep prices in the States as low as possible... (click here for more detail).Also:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born today in 1756 (though I shall probably place my piece, once I have finished it, on December 5, the date of his tragically early death in 1791)

Mordechai Richler, Canadian author of the splendid "Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", born today in 1931.And Lewis Carrol, less well known as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, born today in 1832, but you can read about him on my page for February 8

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About Me

David Prashker was born
in London in 1955 and has lived in France, Israel, Canada and the United
States; now retired, he spent thirty years as a teacher, the last twelve as a Head of School.

He
is the author of thirty books, including contemporary and historical novels,
short stories, poetry, songs, plays and scholarly works, as well as multiple blogs; he is a painter, a musician, a singer-songwriter, the owner of his own publishing house - The Argaman Press - the author of TheBibleNet, and the founder and CEO of three political campaigns: The Campaign for a Charter of Human Responsibilities, The Campaign for Retail Transparency, and The Campaign for Real Democracy.

As a teacher and senior school administrator he has covered every age from nursery to adults, including day and boarding schools, religious schools, kibbutz schools, summer camps, and regular Shabbat morning Torah shi'urim for adults. His subjects include English, French and Hebrew language and literature, world religions, history, music and art.

David is a former teacher-mentor on the prestigious Project Sulam, and a Past President of PARDES, the day school network of Reform Jewish day schools in North America. He was the founding Chair of DAVAR, the Jewish Institute in Bristol (UK) and of the Bristol Anne Frank Society, has served on the Court of the University of Bath, the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education in North Somerset (UK), and was founding director of The Polack's House Educational Trust.